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We can certainly consider how we might put that on the agenda for the task and finish group and engage with the sector on that. There are many instances in which that happens and there are many more where it could happen, if the right support was in place. It is probably never going to be a blanket solution for every circumstance, but the member is right to bring the issue to our attention, and I will see whether we can write to the committee again on it soon, if we manage to put it on the task and finish group’s agenda for a response.

The housing bill was, of course, included in the programme for government announcement. Therefore, we will be working at pace on that. I hope that the member will acknowledge that many of the officials who have been working incredibly hard at an incredible pace to bring forward the emergency legislation are the same people whose job it is to support us in the longer-term development of the housing bill. I will not say that there is no possibility of an impact, but we will be working on understanding any impact that not only developing but operating the emergency legislation will have on our longer-term work.

However, the intentions of that longer-term work are absolutely unchanged. They are not only to develop the proposals under the new deal for tenants and measures such as the national system of rent controls but to take that wider approach to preventing homelessness. I know that the committee has discussed many approaches to achieving that with the cabinet secretary.

Do you want to add anything, Mandy?

I see.

A rent increase notice needs to tell a tenant by how much a landlord intends to change the rent from the current rent level. Rent increase notices during the period will have to be consistent with the cap as it stands at any particular time, which is zero per cent initially, with the potential for that to be changed. Of course, some flexibilities have been built in, particularly where landlords are facing increased costs that are outwith their control as a result of letting out a property and making it available for rent. Those increased costs will be within the clearly defined limits of 50 per cent of the increased costs and a total of 3 per cent of the existing rent. Rent increase notices have to be issued in that way in terms of their relationship to existing rent.

I come back to the points that were made earlier about engagement with the social rented sector. The social rented sector not only operates in a different way from the private rented sector around things such as reinvestment of rents and consultation mechanisms for rent setting, but it also provides a wider range of services. All of those things, as well as the investment in supply and quality, need to be protected, and we will engage actively with the social rented sector well ahead of any decision. In fact, that active engagement is already under way. We will make sure that we take account of all of those circumstances. Nobody, not the Government, tenants or the social rented sector, would want to endanger those services.

Yes. We are defining “substantial rent arrears” as up to or the equivalent of six months’ rent in the private rented sector. We are using the specific figure of £2,250 in the social rented sector, which is roughly equivalent to six months’ average rent in that sector. Amanda, do you want to comment?

Rent increase notices that were issued before 6 September will not be covered by the cap.

If the cap continues at zero per cent until 31 March, as is our current intention—albeit that we have the power to remove it earlier or extend it further—a rent increase notice issued in that period will need to be consistent with that cap.

It is worth adding that a large part of what we are seeking to do is to provide the reassurance and stability that people need. From 6 September, as the First Minister said when she announced the programme for government, people can have confidence that they will not be issued with a rent increase notice that will go beyond the cap. If people are issued with those notices, that means that their landlords will have acted unlawfully, and in those circumstances, there are provisions and measures that can get that redressed.

The cabinet secretary and I have both had one-to-one conversations with a number of individual RSLs and social rented sector bodies. We have had two meetings of the task and finish group—it began its work two weeks ago and had another meeting last week. As I said, the SFHA and others are involved in that and are making valuable contributions.

I am convinced that there is creativity to be brought to bear on how we protect tenants in what is an emergency situation that, as Aaron Hill acknowledged, requires an emergency response, and on how we support the social rented sector to continue to deliver the high-quality and affordable housing that we know is so important in communities across Scotland.